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Abdominal Wall Defects

Abdominal Wall Defects

Abdominal wall defects can occur during the fetal development of a child for unknown reasons. A baby with an abdominal wall defect may be born with a portion of his or her stomach, intestines or other organs formed on the outside of the belly due to a hole that allowed these organs to push outside of the abdominal wall, which then closed around them. The most common types of abdominal wall defect are an omphalocele and gastroschisis. Babies with an ompahlocele have organs that have pushed through the abdomen near the umbilical cord, while gastrochisis is a condition in which the abdominal wall has not closed up, allowing organs that should be inside the body to develop outside of it. When surgery can be performed to push these normal but misplaced organs back inside the body, it is a relatively simple repair procedure. More complex surgery may be required if the organs do not fit properly back into the abdominal cavity. Here, a “silo” device may be affixed over the external organs to protect them and allow them to gradually slide into the abdomen over the course of about a week, with subsequent surgery required to close and/or repair the abdomen.